Roads: Closures

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost was to his Department of the objections to the stopping up order at the highway between the Knapp and Castle Street, Dursley resulting in an enquiry having to be held.

Paul Clark: The Stopping Up Order between The Knapp and Castle street, Dursley did not result in a Public Inquiry being held.
	The Order was made by the Secretary of State on 5 November 2008 following a sole objection which was not made by a local authority or statutory utility supplier. The Secretary of State was satisfied that because of the special circumstances of the case, the holding of a Public Inquiry was unnecessary (Town and Country Planning Act 1990 S252 (5) refers). The Secretary of State subsequently took a decision to make the Order following the consideration of the written representations of the objector and the applicant. A copy of the decision letter was copied to the relevant parties on 5 November 2008.
	No records of costs incurred by the Department are held in connection with the processing of an application for a Stopping Up Order, including for those which attract objections and which are dealt with either through a written representations procedure of by the holding of a Public Local Inquiry.

Climate Change

Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the oral statement of 20 October 2008,  Official Report, column 23, on the European Council, what the evidential basis is for his statement that the United Kingdom cannot fulfil its climate change aspirations without nuclear power.

Mike O'Brien: Nuclear will be an important part of an affordable climate change policy for the UK. In the face of climate change and our 80 per cent. target, we need all low carbon energy technologies available in the mix. Not having nuclear as an option would increase the costs of delivering our energy goals and increase the risks of failing to meet our targets for reducing emissions. In the absence of nuclear power, and if carbon capture and storage is not a viable or technical option, the costs of generating the UK's electricity could increase by up to 40 per cent.
	Both the consultation document, "The Future of Nuclear Power" and the Nuclear White Paper are evidence bases for the Government's decision that it is in the public interest to give energy companies the option of investing in nuclear power stations. The Department published a cost-benefit analysis of nuclear power(1) at the time of the 2006 Energy Review. The recently published DECC energy and emissions projections(2) provide further support for these assumptions.
	(1) http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file39525.pdf
	(2) http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file48514.pdf